^,a 


[Senate  Bu.t..  No.  16.] 

SENATE,  Nov.  18.  1864.— Road  first  and  second  times  and 
placed  on  calendar  and  ordered  to  be  printed.  Nov.  29,  lS6i. — 
Keferred  to  the  Connnitteo  on  Foreign  Relations.  Dec.  13,  1864. — 
Reported  witli  an  nniendmont,  engrossed  and  read  the  third  time  and 
passed  '  JAMES  IT.  NASII,  Secretary. 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  Dee.  l;Mh,  1864.--Read 
the  first  and  second  times  and  referred  to  tlie  Coninn'ttee  on  Foreign 
Affairs  and  ordered  xc^  ]^^^  printed. 


.lOLXT  RESOLUTION 

Defninij  th<  posUum.  of  the  Confederate  Staie.'<^  and  dcdafinij  the 
det,  rtii/nrttwn  of  t-fie  Cojigress  and  the  people  thereof  to  prose- 
cnti   the  war  till  their  independence  is-  achnoirj edged. 

1.         Eriiolved    by   the    Congresa    of    the    Covfrderat,     StateH  of 

2  America,  That   the    people    of  the  Confederat.*'    :St:tte>   arc    vn- 

?*  doM-ed  by  their  Creator  with  the  inalienable  rialits  of  life,  libcrtv 

4  and    the  pursnir  of  happiness.     That,  to  sccni-c  \\wsq  rights,  gov- 

o  »'rnments  were  instituted  among  men.  derivi)io-  theii-  just  powers 

6  from  the  consent  of   tlie  governed,   and   uhfiu-ver  anv  uovern- 

7  nient  becomes  desti-nctive  of  these  ends,  it  is  rlu-  right  of  the 
■^  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it,  and  tu  institute  .-i  nr*v  government 
!)  laying    it^     foundation   on    such     principh's    a)ni    orgaiuzing   its 

1(1     jKnvers  in  such   form  as  to  them  shuli  seem  most  likely  to  effect 
11     ilitir  s^ufety  and  happiness.     That,  (»n  these  principles,  embodied 


2 

12  in  the  Declaration  iM'  American  Indepenience,  the  United  Colo- 

13  nifv,  ill  1 776,  dissolved   the  connection    that  bound  them  to  th© 

14  cjovt'.rntnent   of  Great    Britain,   and    on    thorn   the    Confederate 

15  States  have  severed    the  bond^j  of  that  political  union  which  con- 

16  nected   tlienxwith  the 'people  and  the  government  of  the  United 

17  States  of  America,  rather  than  Rubmit  to  the  repeated  injuriei 

18  inflicted  npon  them  by  that  peopk^  and  to  the  usurpations  of  that 

19  govtr-niment,  all  of  which  had  the  direct  object  to  deprive  them 

20  oi'  theii-  rights,  lob  them  of  property  secured   to  them  by  ccnsti- 

21  tntional  guarantees,  and  to  establi^^h  an  :i.bsohite  tyranny  over 

22  these  States. 

1 .  Reaolmd^  That  the  Confederate  States  appealed   to  arms  in 

2  defence   of  these  rights  and   to  establish   these  principles  only 

3  aftei'  they  had  in  vain  conjured  the  people  and  the  government 

4  of  tlie  United  States,  by  all  the  ties  of  a  common  l^indred,  to  dis- 

5  c«">imtenance  and  discontinue  these  injuries  and  usurpations,  and 

6  after   they  had    petitioned  for  redres'^  in  the  most  appropriate 

7  terms,  und  received  in  answer  only  a  repetition  of  insults  and  in- 

8  juries,  which  foreshadowed   usurpations  still'  more  dangerous  to 

y  liberty. 

I.  Resolved^  That  after   ne:irly  four   yt-ars   of  ci'uel,  desolating 

2  anrl  unnatural  war,  in  which  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States 


i 


3  liavc  unquestionably  cfetablished  theircapacity  Ibrself-government, 

4  and  their  alnlity  to  resist  the  attempts  of  the  enemy  to  subjugate 

5  them,  this  Congress  docs  not  hesitate  to  avoAV  its  sincere  desire 

6  for  peace,  and  to  that  end  proclaims  to  tlie  ^v(^rld  the  readiness 

7  of  the  Government  of  the  Confederate  States  to  open  negotiations 

8  to  establish  a  ])ermanenr  and  honorable  peace  between  the  Con- 
0  federate  States  and  the  United  Slates,  upon  the  basis  of  the  sep- 

lO  urate  independence  of  the  former. 

1.  ResoUed^  That  the  time  has  come  when  the  Confederate  Con- 

2  gress,  in  the  name  of  the  })eople  of  the  Confederate  States,  deem 

3  it  proper  again  to  proclaiTii   (o  the  woild   their  unalterable  deter- 

4  mination  to  be  free,  and  that  they  do  not  abate  one  jot  of  their 
.     5  high  resolve  to  die  freemen  rather  than  endure  the  tyranny  which 

f)  m«st  follow  subjugation  ;  and  further,  if  the  people  «»f  the  United 

7  States,  by  re-electing  Abraham  Lincoln,  mean  to  tender  to  them 

8  fonr  years  moi'e  of  war,  or  re-union  witli  them  on  any  terms, 

9  deeply  deprecating  the  dire  necessity  so  wantonly  thrust  upon 

10  them,  and  relying  upon  the  jnsticij  of  their   cause   and  the  gal" 

11  lantry  of  their  soldiers,  they  accept  the  gage  of  battle,  and  leave 

12  the  result  to  the  righteous  ai-bitrament  of  Heaven. 

1.  Resolved.,  That  in  view  of  the  determination  of  t)  e  enemy  to 

2  prosecute  this  horrid  Mar  still  further,  against  which  the  Confede- 

3  rate  States  have  at  all  times  protested,  and  which  the  enemy  have 
•4  waged  with  extraordinary  vigor,  and  which  has  l)»;en  marked  by 
5  acts  of  extraordinary  atrocity,   in   violation  of  all  the   usages  of 


^5c 


4 

C,  civili/'d    wtirfaiv,  t]io  Coiii^re63  "f  flu-   Confederate  States  will. 

7  froin  rhi'^  Imur.  dcnlicate  themselves  anew  to  the  great  cause  of 

S  Bclf-deteflcc  airainst  the  comblued  tyranny  of  the  enemy.     Tlint  if 

!>  shall  Mm  lo!\i:;or  lie  tlie  inoiiH^iifaiT  <>(''cuj>:iiion  of  tlie  ('!(iiiM:rt»>>s  mikI 

10  the  peojile  t.if  the  CJunfcdcrate  States,  but  the  business  ul'  iheir  ii\ .  - 

J.l  t)  i;"alliei-  t(»gother  the  entire  strono;th  of  the  cijuntrv  in  men  and 

I'J  matt,rials  <,>1'  war.  and    put  it  forth   as  with  the  will  of  .me.  man, 

J."^  and  with  an  micoiK^uerable  determination  to  defend  their  altai-s 

14  and    their  iiresi(b'-  till   the   Uist   votary  of  freedom  falls  around 

lo  ihtin. 


